Step Into the Future
by Amberdiamondswords
Summary: Ratchet's mission from Clank was to save Orvus from the clutches of Dr. Nefarious, and that is what he did. But there is no escape from Nefarious' forces, leaving Ratchet with only one idea. There is no Orvus around in the future. That's why Ratchet is going to bring him from the past. And they'll fight for the Great Clock together. A Crack in Time AU.


_"Ratchet, I need your help. Orvus is in trouble. You must go to Zanifar and confront Dr. Nefarious."_

_"Zanifar? Dr. Nefarious hasn't set foot on that rock since his station was completed two years ago."_

_"Then that is when you must confront him! Go to the Tombli Outpost and look for a time portal. Please, save my father."_

_"'Father'? Clank, what's going on?"_

* * *

"You twit! You told me this would work!"

Ratchet snuck into the facility and knew he was in the right place when he heard Nefarious' shrill voice hitting his ears. He treaded light so he would not be detected. It looked like everyone was down on the main floor. Ratchet began sneaking over to a better position, but he caught a quick glance at the large hologram nearby. The Nefarious Space Station. If Alister's history was correct, it should have been close to completion at this point.

Ratchet took his eyes away from the hologram and found a good place to drop down. Meanwhile, Nefarious pressured the Terachnoid that was present, Pollyx, for answers.

"I don't know what's happening! We should have found it by now...he must have erased his own memory!" Pollyx told him, frantically looking for info on his datapad. But nothing about how to get into the Orvus Chamber was showing up.

"Time is...a gift...and not to be tampered with…" Orvus muttered weakly, his hand shaking as he attempted to bring it up. But it simply fell back to his side.

Ratchet dropped down onto the main floor, a Constructo Bomb ready in his hand. He surveyed the situation from his position. Nefarious and Lawrence were here with Pollyx and plenty of the robot minions Ratchet has been fighting throughout this whole adventure. However, one of them stood out. A large floating red machine with speakers and two front-facing appendages that were pointing at Orvus, who was weakly floating in some sort of glass chamber. It wasn't hard to guess that the red machine was used against Orvus when he didn't answer Nefarious.

So this is what Clank meant by asking him to save his father. Nefarious was torturing Orvus for information about the Great Clock. And by the looks of it, even though he was severely weakened, Orvus wasn't going to talk. Ratchet's eyes narrowed a bit, suspicious of what all occurred here. Did Nefarious kill Orvus because he refused to talk? But...how did Nefarious find out about Clank being Orvus' son, then?

Ratchet frowned a bit. Clank being Orvus' son. That...was still something he was still trying to wrap his head around. He had so many questions about all of this, and to be honest, he didn't know if some of them would even be answered.

"This is your last chance, Orvus," Nefarious warned, snapping Ratchet back into focus. The robot yelled at the Zoni once more, wanting his answers. "How do I get into the chamber?!"

Orvus shook his head and continued to stand his ground, "You are making a mistake. The Clock is _not_ a time machine."

That got Ratchet's attention. Not a time machine...but, if that was the case, what about Alister's plan of turning back time and saving the Lombaxes? He said it was possible. But Orvus said the Clock is not a time machine...so, was it actually possible? Ratchet felt even more confused by this situation. But at this point, he was just adding it to his pile of questions and confusion he had built up over the past two years.

Besides, now was not the time to be asking questions. Nefarious was really getting fed up with Orvus keeping the information. He clenched his fists and shook with rage before quickly turning around and giving the go-ahead to the Hyper Sonic Brainwave Scrambler. Ratchet's ears twitched as the machine let out a small beat and it almost purred with sonic energy before blasting out a steady stream of it. Orvus attempted to block it by surrounding himself with a shield.

Ratchet's finger twitched on the Constructo Bomb and he gritted his teeth. Part of him was telling him to just sit there and wait in hopes of finding out more about Nefarious' plan, but Orvus...he couldn't take much more. And he was taking all of this torture and still refusing to tell Nefarious anything. Someone as loyal and determined as that did not deserve to be sacrificed at the hands of Nefarious.

Making his decision, Ratchet activated the Constructo Bomb and threw it. The entire crowd's focus was directed towards Orvus' interrogation, so a sudden explosion from the bomb caught all of them off guard. When the bomb went off, several of the minions, the Terachnoid, and Lawrence went for cover while others were blown back. Nefarious, on the other hand, was caught in the worst of it. The force from the bomb struck the right side of his face, a large crack forming across his eye and stretching up to the green dome.

In the confusion, Ratchet ran through the smoke, prepping his wrench. Giving a full force swing, he smashed the glass of the chamber, shards of blue glass flying everywhere and scattering across the ground. Even though he was in a rush to get out, Ratchet carefully grabbed Orvus and pulled him out, securing him in one arm. Not wasting any time, he ran back the way he came, hoping to escape unscathed.

Nefarious stumbled to get up, holding his damaged face. He looked out of the corner of his only good eye and caught sight of the person who was escaping with his hostage.

"_You_…!" He growled, recognizing the Lombax who defeated him years ago. He snapped at his minions, his loose pupil bouncing with his movements, "Annihilate him, you fools!"

The remaining minions got their acts together and targeted Ratchet, firing whatever ammunition they were armed with. Bullets and sparks flew all over the room, lighting up with flying bits of danger and destruction. Ratchet kept Orvus close as he headed for a large glass window that was cracking as the bullets pounded against it. Using the glass's unstableness to his advantage, he braced himself and guarded the Zoni in his arm and slammed into the window, breaking the glass and jumping out of the building.

"AFTER HIM!" Nefarious screamed his commands to the minions, who stumbled over each other when leaving to escape their boss' wrath. The robot doctor was seething with rage. The gears and cogs in his dome were spinning rapidly and there was a crazy look in his eye (crazier than normal, at least).

However, Lawrence walked up to Nefarious with his usual content behavior. At this point in his evil butler career, Nefarious becoming furious and yelling at the minions was a daily event. But Lawrence had to admit, even he was surprised by these sudden events. "Interesting. How did Ratchet know what we were doing here? We made sure that the Fongoids knew not to tell others that Orvus was here."

"I don't care about how he knew! That space rat took our only source of information on how to get into the Orvus Chamber! YOU!" Nefarious pointed at Pollyx who was now cowering behind his datapad. "Did you get any information on the chamber from that old twit's brain?"

"W-Well," the Terachnoid stuttered as he glanced at his datapad, "I don't have a straight answer, but…"

"But WHAT?!"

"I'm pulling up a residual image from his databanks. We scanned it before the Lombax broke him out." Pollyx brought up the image and let Nefarious see it for himself. The robot took one look at the image and took a sudden step back, shock taking over his face.

"THAT'S-!" He began, but he quickly cut himself off. Everyone in the room looked at him, aware of how he felt towards the particular person in the image. After a few moments, the evil doctor let out some hushed sinister laughs. An unsettling smile formed on his face. "That's... something I can work with."

Nefarious turned around and walked away, gesturing Lawrence to follow him, leaving Pollyx with the image of Clank's blueprints.

_Meanwhile..._

Ratchet nearly slammed his back against the large rock wall when he slipped behind it. Nefarious' minions didn't seem like that great at tracking in the future, but they were right on his tail for a good while before he lost them around the cliffs. He attempted to lose them through the busy Fongoid village, but holding the Fongoid's most sacred deity was bound to draw some attention towards him. Orvus seemed flattered though.

"Hooo…" Ratchet let out a few deep breaths, exhausted from the chase. He peeked past the corner to see if any robots were searching the area. So far, so good. Nefarious really did want his head. It was almost flattering how much Nefarious remembered him. After looking around the corner some more, he gave a sigh of relief and finally addressed the person in his arms. "Are you alright?"

"I...do not know," Orvus said, his voice slightly weak. This entire time he had been limp in Ratchet's hold, rendered severely weak from the interrogation. As he pushed himself away from Ratchet, still remaining in the Lombax's hold so as to get a better look at him. His lack of strength was the last thing he had on his mind. He needed to know what the Lombax was doing here. "But nevermind me. You...what are _you_ doing here?"

"Eh, it's kind of a long story," Ratchet said, looking away from Orvus' large turquoise eyes. He wasn't quite sure how to explain all the events that led up to this. Maybe he should go straight to the point and leave room for the questions he knew would come. "Clank sent me here to rescue you."

"Cl...Clank did?" Orvus was almost speechless. His son? While he was very touched by his son's actions, this didn't make any sense. "How is that possible? Clank should not know who I am. You shouldn't know who I am! What is the meaning of all of this?"

Ratchet tried to explain why he knew what he knew. "Well, I'm not exactly from..._this_ time. I'm from the future. About two years if you want an exact number."

"From the future-what?" The elder Zoni huffed a bit, looking almost defeated. "You have left me with more question than answers…"

"Look, at this point, I'm just as confused as you are. All I know is that Clank told me to look for a time portal here and save you from Nefarious. Now that I've done that, I don't really know what happens next. But at least you're safe like Clank wanted."

"Hm, I suppose you are as clueless about this as I am. But I do owe you thanks for liberating me from that vile robot." Orvus said with a smile. Then he switched to a matter-of-fact voice that reminded Ratchet a lot about Clank. "However, while I am very grateful that you came to my rescue, what you did was very dangerous. I trust that you will be more careful next time, Ratchet."

"Yeah, I know, I just thought that I-" Ratchet abruptly stopped and eyed Orvus curiously, "Wait, you...how...how do you know my name?"

"Oh, I already know much about you. I have been watching you and Clank ever since your first adventure."

"You have?" The Lombax's ears lowered a bit. "That's uh...flattering."

Orvus gave a friendly smile. Ratchet had to admit, he was caught a little off-guard. He didn't expect the leader of the Zoni to be this...harmless. Even when he was weakened his voice carried an air of geniality. Ratchet thought about this as Orvus' smile suddenly dipped, realizing something about what Ratchet told him. "So, I am not around in the future? That is why my son sent you?"

"I assume so," Ratchet shrugged and nodded.

"I see..." The Zoni muttered. His voice was soft when he recalled the events. "When that dreadful machine was blasting me with sonic pulses, I knew I would last for not much longer. My body has never been put under that much stress before. So if you had not come to my aid, I would have…"

"The important thing is that you're out of there. Now you can go back to the Clock and protect it from Nefarious. You better get going before they find us." Ratchet saw the look on the Zoni's face after his suggestion. The Lombax mimicked the face a bit as he frowned. "What's wrong?"

"While I wish to go back to the Clock and prepare to defend it, unfortunately..." Orvus frowned, "I do not have the energy to teleport. That blasted Nefarious has drained me of every bit of strength I had."

"But...wait," Ratchet's shoulders dropped as he narrowed his eyes a bit, "how are you supposed to get back then?"

"I…" he paused for a moment before the true dread of the realization hit both of them, "I cannot."

Ratchet exhaled and looked away from Orvus. He couldn't go back to the Clock...and Aphelion wasn't here to get them off the planet. They were stuck between a rock and a hard place. This was something that he should have stopped and planned for. He was in too deep to go back, but he didn't know where to go from here. At the very least, he could sit and think for a moment and try to figure this out.

"_Lombax and Zoni not located. Continuing search. Will annihilate on sight._"

"Ratchet. Nefarious' minions are searching the area for us. We are in danger of being found," Orvus warned, worried about their safety.

Time for thinking was over. Ratchet looked around the corner and saw robots scanning the cliffsides for them. They were near. Very near. Now was the time to panic.

Ratchet withdrew from the corner and took a sharp breath through his teeth. His tail twitched nervously as he thought of his options. He was too close to finding Clank to die now. But he couldn't just leave Orvus here. Either the minions or Nefarious would find and kill him or the brainwashed Fongoids would give him up to Nefarious. It would have made Clank's request completely pointless. Ratchet's ears lowered. He couldn't stay here but he couldn't leave Orvus. So what could he do?

_"So, I am not around in the future?"_

Orvus' words resonated within Ratchet. His eyes went wide as an idea came to him. Orvus was killed two years ago. That was why he wasn't at the Clock in the future. And if past Orvus was now saved, but couldn't go to the Clock, then maybe he could…

"Orvus, I have an idea. It's kind of crazy, but it'll be better than staying here."

"What is it?" Orvus asked, very curious.

"When the coast is clear, we're going to make a break for the time portal I came through."

"The...the time portal?! Ratchet, we cannot do that! I can't go with you-"

"There is no Orvus around in my time, remember? If you go with me, it'll be like none of this ever happened." Ratchet gave a confident smile and secured an unsure looking Orvus in his arm again. "I'm taking you to the future."

* * *

**This is an idea I thought of recently and I decided to explore it. Plus I promised my Tumblr followers I would write it lol**

**So basically, this is an AU where Ratchet actually saves Orvus in the past and becomes a temporary duo with him. I also had to change Orvus' disappearance, making it so Nefarious killed him through the interrogation instead of Orvus escaping (as TJ Fixman confirmed). I think this will make a very interesting AU and allow two characters who never had any interaction to form a friendship.**

**I hope you all enjoy this story!**

**Story edited by Max Chronicle**


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